General discussion

Ben Stein is right!

Special ReportGet Off His Back (Updated)By Ben Stein Published 9/2/2005 11:59:59 PM

***UPDATE Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005 , 2:13 p.m. ***

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China , India, and Brazil . In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living ****.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

****UPDATE: Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, 2:13 p.m.:

More Mysteries of Katrina:

Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?

What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?

What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?

If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?

When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?

Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms and every other kind of ill wind?

Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation?

All Comments

About as right...wing as you can get.

I don't think you could have picked a more avid right winger, moreso than George Bush himself, but...I have to agee on many points, thoughI have not seen such reports that it had anything to do with Bush or Iraq anyway.

1) Very true

2) Very true (was he actually accused of creating a hurricane? I'm sure more Americans and innocent people would have been klled if he did

3)True again, but initial response was a joke.

4)FALSE: There is undeniable proof that the Earth has warmed and cooled naturally over many millenium. CO is a terribly harmful gas to mankind, regardless of it's effects on GW, our factories and pollutants DO and ARE killing people daily. The comments about Bush and hurricanes is just a proBUsh rant, irrelevant to Global warming as being a fact and also a way to detract from the reality of the situation.

5) True, but he is responsible for the safety and security of American citizens. Itis his responsibility to see that his states are prepared and acting accordingly and in the best interests of the people. Or is he no longer responsible for seeing to the safety, security of the people of America?

6)True, but again I have yet to hear he was responsible for people looting and shooting, that sounds a bizarre assumption of the always right wing again.

7)That's hard to believe, perhaps just as UNracist as others, but to say the least racist one would have to have a measure of how racist all other president's have been. Again, inflated praise without proof.

True, but a full scale invasion of another country can be launched in less time. What happened to being able to stop an incoming nuclear attack with short notice? Does that mean tha tAmerica gets obliterated before they can retaliate?

9) True, haven't heard otherwise.

10) Spun and planned: The news media is mainly owned and controlled by SBG, executives David G Smith, Frederick G Smith, J. Duncan Smith and the rest of SBG's board of directors are STAUNCH,Die-hard Republicans. they all own massive conglomerates that fund GWB's campaigns?Sinclair Broadcasting Group owns or operates more than 61 television stations in 38 markets, including FOX, CBS, WB, NBC, ABC and UPN. So when you look at the actual ownership, not the Democratic balance they suggest when hiring lefty anchormen, they (US media) are 100% Right wing owned, operated and focused at making the right look.....right. They push and focus on only the most radical left spin in order to reduce it's credibility. It also offers more credibility to right wing news direct from the White House, as it is seen as the only trustworthy source by many.

11) True

12)True and then speculative. Hilary Clinton is irrelevant, she DIDN'T get her way and there's no possible way you can equate the poor response on the ground to their ability to control medical, it is completely irrelevant. They run thier cities day in and day out, people don't die in droves due to political incompetence.

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them.

I'll let Ben Stein kiss Bush's a$$, but I'll praise everyone involved, including the Vancouver S&R team, the two little girls raising money by selling lemonade and everyone else around the world that has shown their support. I don't praise people for simply doing the job they are paid to do and expected to do.

Yes there was quite a bit of tripping up from many different parties, it doesn't mean Bush is the hero and everyone on the left f****d up. Yet that is exactly Ben Stein's implication. Ben Stein could use a few more being clever lessons, he has some credibility and would actually be an opinion worth listening to if he didn't plaster his comments with such blatant political favoritism.

Left to left

Your response is certainly a reply from the far left, but I have to admit that at least you agree with the obvious in most instances. Some of your replys show that you haven't seen or don't want to believe that the left leaning media has been dumping everything on President Bush(He must be God). You say; "The comments about Bush and hurricanes is just a proBUsh rant" when it should read that it is an antiBUsh rant.

Pro Bush

I meant it was a Pro Bush rant from the right, "Bush can do no wrong".

I often see the right discounting the left based on a vast exaggeration of the left's real complaint.

Global Warming as used here for example. Global warming is not Bush's fault not doing anything about it, IS Bush's fault. There is 100% conclusive evidence that the Earth DOES warm and cool naturally, so global warming is a FACT, yet they will discount it based on some retarded comment about Bush causing hurricanes and global warming. Thus the right laughs at the left without accepting that there IS a problem, and man's emissions are increasing it's effects.

Bush has even accepted this himself at the last G8. He refused to have US companies participate in the studies of the effects though, so it's up to Europe and the rest of the world, who already make great attempts to reduce emissions, to prove makind's effects, while the biggest polluters will never be examined.

People discount the whole claim though, based on an exaggeration such as GWB is causing GW. He isn't, but while he accepts it's a reality now, he refuses to make any move to discover more about it. Sticking his head in the sand syndrome.

It also pisses me off that ANY comment or decision he makes is NEVER his fault when it goes wrong, is he not responsble for any motion of government or problem in his country? Is he really just a pupet? Why did people vote for a non entity, a mere figure-head and not an active leader then?

The very first thing the right does is find a way to make the left complaints seem extreme, take them out of context etc. In GWB's entire term, he has made not a single mistake, not a s?ngle rash decision and not a single miscommunication, according to HIS people.

I think people would LIKE to believe he's perfect, but out of all of Americas presidents, he has got to be the worst yet, or at least near the top of the list. He as dragged our country's name through the mud and many of your former allied countires now dislike the states, as do their people, all because of one man wo is apparently not responsible for anything that his country does.

But the right just pretends he's perfect and all is well, sticking their heads in the sand.

g8 and polution

What I don't understand, if vegetation breaths co2 why isn't it thriving more, which in turn depletes the co2 out of the air? Isn't that what happens when you add something to a mix? Whatever thrives off of that addition usually thrives as well?

This is not meant as my normal sarcastic post, but an honest question.

Non-sarky answer

I think that the jury is still out on that one. It would seem a no-brainer that they would grow faster but studies have shown that land plants, trees, etc don't seem to know what to do with the extra CO2 and just excrete it. Their systems are too finally balanced to handle it in any major fashion. It's generally though, anyway, that even if these studies were not accurate that plants might handle some of the CO2 but not all. Most atmospheric CO2 is buffered in the ocean but that doesn't seem to be able to handle all of the rise.

Any way you cut it, though, average temperatures are going up, CO2 is going up and the unanswered question is "is it our fault?". The real question, though, is "can we do anything, anyway?".

G8

A focus discussion fo G8 yet again this year was to actually investigate and monitor the amount of harmful emissions from manufacturing.

The greatest source of these emissions is said to be the USA, sorry JD, but that's just common knowledge. Sure some countries burn whatever whenever, usually to produce products for US based corporations that have outsourced.

GWB has refused year after year to acept the fact that gobal warming does occur, and that man made emissions contribute to it. FINALLY, this year he has admitted that it does have effects and agrees that more studies should be performed.

The only catch is, he will not permit testing in the USA. WHY NOT?

Europe is known to e one of themore concious continents when it comes to clean air and emissions control, GWB suggests that such test be undertaken in Europe, where results would possibly be the lowest of all.

Tony Blair has commented: "Climate change is, in my view, long term, the single biggest issue that we face," Blair told the House of Commons Wednesday after returning from talks with Bush.

"The brutal truth is, without America in a process of dialogue and action in the international community, we are not going to make progress on it."

Bush has played lip service for sound bytes, he is not prepared to do anything about it, even though he agree it is an issue to be adressed.

If in your mind, America is not the largest contributor of harmful emissions from production, then you coul dnot possibly not agree that you are a MAJOR contributor. In which case, would it not make sense that test on global effects would include testing in America? Of course it would.

But as Bush seems to like to do, he'll play on both sides of the matter as always. 'Okay, global warming does need to be addressed, just not in my backyard'.

What a useless leader, he flies by the seat of his pants and makes the rest up as he goes, expecting people to follow along.

CO is my problem not CO2

Carbon Monoxide has a far greater immediate effect on our day to day lives. Emissions control has reduced it but nowhere near as much as needed.

If I spend a few days in Toronto, I have a constant headache, attributed to CO inhalation. It's a major concern of city officials as police and road crews claim more and more sick time, and some even die. CO kills thousands of people in North America every year, and yet people just complain that gas is too expensive instead of looking for alternate methods of transportation that will reduce the CO in our cities.

No, it's not GW, but extensive pollution is a result of poor Air Care standards imposed in countries. Increased emissions control works for the GW issue and our immediate health risks. Unless we can test it, we can't address it. GWb agrees its a problem but refuses to participate in finding out hw much and what can be done about it. Head in the sand syndrome....again.

Somebody needs to just go and shoot the *******, let us all get on with our lives and develop into responsible nations. They shoot all the other presidents, why no whacko assasin for this one?

Oz my goodness

First of all, its unfair to lay it all on Bush. Clinton had 8 years to make major improvements to the environment, and I didn't see a lot of new initiatives that had any real impact beyond a photo op. And frankly I doubt whether any of the Republican candidates in 2000 would have done anything different -its groupthink. Do you honestly think it would be different with Cheney?

I don't advocate killing anyone, even in jest. If it was stupid for Pat Robertson, its stupid for Oz too.

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